


Lonely

by justanoutlaw



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Baby Henry Mills (Once Upon a Time), Canon Compliant, Dogs, Gen, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-21 02:13:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21291935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justanoutlaw/pseuds/justanoutlaw
Summary: Regina assures that her son is never lonely again.
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills & Henry Mills
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21





	Lonely

**Author's Note:**

> Anonymous on Curious Cat prompted: Could you write, maybe a oneshot of like, little Henry and his best friend, the family dog?
> 
> Pre-series, Little!Henry and Mama Regina.

Regina hadn’t wanted to be like her mother. She watched herself in many ways. How she disciplined Henry, the way she comforted him. He was never going to feel the way she did around Cora, at least not if she had anything to say about it.

What she didn’t count on, was that Henry would feel the way she did when she was young. Lonely.

Sure, he had kids he would play with at school according to his teachers. However, none of them ever wanted to come back to the house. It seemed as though her reputation was enough to ruin that. She was the “scary mayor”. No one wanted to come over and play in their huge backyard. He spent many an afternoon running around it by himself or playing video games on player one. Regina did her best to learn about his interests, but she knew it wasn’t the same. She couldn’t compare to 5-year-old boys.

It wasn’t as if she could force the other kids to be his friends either. That’d make her just as bad as Cora. Still, she had to do something to make him feel better. Something to keep his spirits up.

Something to keep him from ending up like her.

Which is why one day when Henry came home from school, Regina had a beagle waiting for him. Henry’s eyes filled with wonder.

“What’s this?”

“This is Stanley,” Regina said. “And he’s going to be a new member of our family.”

Henry dropped his backpack, throwing his arms around his mother’s legs quickly before moving onto getting to know his new best friend. They went out into the yard and ran around for hours. Henry tossed a ball towards the dog, quickly teaching him some new tricks. Regina watched from the back porch with a cup of warm cider in her hands and a smile on her face. It was the happiest she had seen Henry in quite a long time.

Later that night, as Henry colored in his favorite activity book, Stanley sat happily at his feet. He dragged the humongous bag of dog food and poured the kibble into the bowl. Regina didn’t even care when most of it got on the floor. She even allowed Henry to eat his lasagna next to the dog. She listened to him tell Stanley about his classroom, the beach with the “scary seagulls” and of course, the broken clock in the center of town. Stanley listened intently to all of it, laying his head on Henry’s lap when he was done eating.

One thing was clear to her, her son would definitely never be lonely again.


End file.
